Remembering Ringo

He was a tough guy in love with life, fulfilled by what his own life contained: plants and music, friends and family.

I met him in the winter of 2008/09 through Samantha Miller of Pure Analytics lab, who’d heard we were on the lookout for CBD-rich plants. I interviewed him that day for the Anderson Valley Advertiser. Unlike most growers and plant breeders, who are understandably reticent when it comes to describing their work, Ringo was bold and forthright. He (and Samantha) gave Project CBD a great boost in those bygone days when we still felt it necessary to define cannabidiol for readers of the AVA.

Sour Tsunami Stabilized!

For the first time, a California plant breeder has “stabilized” a strain of Cannabis high in cannabidiol —CBD, the non-psychoactive cousin of THC that has medical benefits of its own.

Lawrence Ringo, 54, runs the Southern Humboldt Seed Collective. He started growing marijuana at 15. On his way to school one day he found a sapphire gold ring and a snub-nosed .38 and a film can of cocaine. He threw away the coke and returned the ring and the pistol to the local head of the Hell’s Angels. “Come on in little brother,” said the grateful biker. When he asked what he could do by way of thanks, Lawrence pointed to a big Sativa plant he saw growing in the back yard and said, “I want to learn how to grow that!”

At age 19 he went to college in Sonora and learned organic horticulture from “a really cool woman.” He has been crossing plants of interest for many years, with the goal of creating a strain that would lessen his back pain without giving him “a clogged head.” He says, “There are certain highs that you can operate on and some that you can’t. You smoke three hits and you’re passed out. I don’t like that.”

Ringo was close to stabilizing his “Sour Tsunami” strain when we spoke in mid-January. “I saved seeds whenever a plant gave me a creative feeling,” he explains. “I bought ‘New York City Diesel’ seeds from Marc Emery. I took the males from that and crossed them onto Sour Diesel female clones. I crossed the NYC Diesel and the Sour Diesel for about four years kept crossing it back to the Sour Diesel clone. Each year I’d save the male and do the dusting and make my seeds. One year a friend popped in with something that had a really nice creamy taste. I thought it was an Indica but it turned out to be 60% Sativa called Ferrari. I’ll never forget that creamy taste. I smoked it and my brain just took off. I’m a musician so I just grabbed a guitar and was going nuts for hours.

“It took me about a year to get that Ferrari clone. It was protected by the rednecks —the good old boys who used to be loggers and now they’re pot growers. They have this little clique going, the good old boys network. Very secretive and protective. They weren’t going to give it to us but we got it. I crossed my Sour Diesel —Double Diesel, I called it—to the Ferrari clone five years ago. Two years ago I re-crossed it back onto the Sour Diesel. Before I did that I had this thing called Tsunami. It was the Double Diesel crossed four times to the Sour Diesel then crossed to the Ferrari and then crossed back to the Sour Diesel. That made Sour Tsunami. It’s unbelievable. The creamy taste was there. I had no idea what the CBD count was until Samantha Miller [of Pure Analytics] analyzed my stuff and said it was 11.3% CBD. ‘And by the way,’ she said, ‘You have eight other strains with great CBD potential.'”

“I have no disk between my lower third and fourth. It’s bone on bone. When I was 13 some kids thought it was funny to let me take the weight of this thing we were lifting up. I‘ve been dealing with the pain ever since. I’m 54 and I’ve been to every doctor and chiropractor. No one can really help. There’s no way that I’m going to do any drugs, ever. I despise them. And I’m not going to do any back surgery. I’m going to rely on the strains I’ve developed over the years. When my back really hurts I do the the high-CBD kief. Two pipeloads and I can go out and do anything —ride a motorcycle, work in the garden.”

Interview Notes Lawrence Ringo 1/17

Nine strains with CBD. He saved seeds whenever a plant gave him a creative feeling.

We were doing the Diesel. Not couch lock. Good taste.

I bought “New York City Diesel” seeds from Marc Emery. Took the males from that and crossed them onto the sour diesel female clones. The next year I took the seeds from that and started buying clones again from Organicann and a dispensary in Ft Bragg. Purple Urkle and I would cross it with all kinds of stuff. The sour diesel crossed with the NYC Diesel and I did that for about four years kept crossing it back to the sour diesel clone. Each year I’d save the male and do the dusting and make my seeds. One year a friend popped in with something that had a really nice creamy taste. I thought it was an Indica but it turned out to be 60% Sativa called Ferrari. I’ll never forget that creamy taste. I smoked it and my brain just took off. I’m a musician so I just grabbed a guitar and was going nuts for hours.

So I took that and it took me about a year to get that clone. It was protected by the rednecks —the good old boys who used to be loggers and now they’re pot growers. They have this little clique going, the good old boys network. Very secretive and protective.

They weren’t going to give it to use but we got it. I crossed my sour diesel —double diesel I called it—to the Ferrari clone five years ago. Two years ago I recrossed it back onto the sour diesel. Before I did that I had this thing called Tsunami. It was the doubl diesel crossed four times to the sour diesel then corssed to the Ferrari and then crossed back to the sour diesel. That made sour Tsunami. Its unbelievable. The creamy taste was there. I had no diea what the CBD count was unti Smantha analyzed my stuff. 11.32 per ent CBD. And by the way, you have eight other strains with great CBD potntial.

Ringo was breeding for back pain but I don’t want to have a clogged head. There are certain highs that you can operate on and some that you cant. You smoke three hits and you’re passed out. I don’t like that.

I have no disk between my lower third and fourth. It’s bone on bone. When I was 13 we were doing stuff and the kids thought it was funny let let me take the weight of this thing we were lifting up and I ‘ve been dealing with it ever since. I’m 54 and I’ve been to every doctor and chiropractor. No one can really help them. There’s no way that I’m going to do any drugs, ever. I despise them. And I’m not going to do any back surgery. The strains I’ve developed over the years. When it really hurts I’m going to do the kief the high CBD kief. Two pipeloads and I can go out and do anything —ride a motorcycle, work in the garden…

Granny D. I’ve been working on the granny diesel for eight years, also. I got my first taste of that real purple urkle and couldn’t believe the taste, the high was a little bit more than I like. I finally found someone who had clones of it. I took the NYC Diesel and crossed it to a purple haze and created a breed 10 years ago called purple diesel. I started crossing that onto the purple urkle. I’d get a clone every year for five year straight. Now my purple durkel or my granny derkel as I call her. Last year I crossed my purple durke which I’d purple diesel which I turned to Durkel sour diesel crossed all these diesel crossed with the durkels… Purple Haze crossed with NYC Diesel then crossed that onto the Urkle I liked it so much that first year and I wanted to get that F1 things and the only way to do that is to get a clone bring it back to th garden and save my males from my purple diesels –now it’s the durkel—and keep crossing that male back onto the urkle.

That F1 thing… it’s gonna come out vibrant creamy freshest everything’s going to be the same. Almost every seed. You’ll only have two phenotypes but if you take the brother and sister and keep breeding them it takes 7 to 13 years to get yourself stabilized.

We do deps now —light deprivation. I can do this two times a year now. I can pollinate and keep them straight and true. The F1 always comes out perfect. I keep all my pollen. I have pounds of it all tagged and IDed. What year what plant what strain.

My goal? I have a seed collective. I’m trying to influence my friends form southern Humboldt – I’ve been up there since 1978. I’m trying to convince my friends to get rid of their old moldy seedstocks and get these land race strains back in order. I’m working on reintroducing Panama Red. I finally got the seeds. Big Sur Holy Weed.

Started to grow at 15. Found a sapphire gold ring and a snub nosed 38 and a film can of cocaine. Returned it to the head of HA. Come on in little brother. Sees the big sativa in the yard. I want to learn how to grow that! Sonora college at age 19 learned how to grow, learned about organics from a really cool woman.